Presidential Auction 2004

Attention Missouri voters:

This is a message sent from Truemajority.org to subscribers in Missouri. You don't have to subscribe to their list to participate. It's a campaign to correct electronic voting procedures. It's just a matter of a couple of clicks for you to send a message to Missouri's Secretary of State to express your concern that we get the glitches out before we vote.

If you don't live in Missouri, Truemajority is spreading this campaign across all the states. If you want to take it upon yourself to write to your Secretary of State or your newspapers, or whatever, please do. If you want the easy way, go to Truemajority's website and sign up for their email alerts.




Computer Voting Glitches Imperil Missouri's Votes
California, Washington and Nevada Have Protected Their Voters
Tell Secretary of State Matt Blunt to Safeguard Yours as Well



Computer voting systems are coming, even though they are "not ready for prime time." The corporations that make them are keeping secret how the machines work, saying, "Trust us, nothing can go wrong." They don't even have a way to have a real recount should the machines crash or there be any other reason to think that something might have gone wrong. When Maryland election officials tested the machines, hackers were able to compromise the systems in a matter of minutes.

But this is a rare example of a serious problem that has a simple remedy.. The machines can be opened up to election officials for monitoring, and each voter can check a printout of his or her vote to confirm that it was entered correctly. Then the paper version can be collected and be available for routine audits and recounts if necessary. This creates a voter-verified paper trail.

State election officials in California, Washington and Nevada have already used their own authority to protect their citizens by requiring that computer voting systems in their states provide the voter-verified paper trail. You deserve the same protection. Tell Secretary of State Matt Blunt to do the same for Missouri.

To send Secretary of State Matt Blunt a free message urging the same safeguards for Missouri voters, just click...here:

http://action.truemajority.com/index.asp?action=10135&ms=atevt1&ref=124425

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letters to the editor are another powerful way to influence election officials. This feature uses state-of-the-art technology to make it really easy for you to send a letter to the editor. Click here to give it a try:

http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=124425&l=317

About This Campaign:

TrueMajority members have urged passage of federal legislation requiring these simple remedies, but the Republican congressional leadership refuses even to grant the bills a hearing. So TrueMajority is rolling out a major campaign to make sure that state election officials protect their citizens from these machines. We asked our members to donate the money needed to run this campaign, and you've already given more than $100,000, twice what we asked for. We are using this money to mount an even-more-aggressive campaign to make sure these voting machines aren't installed around the country.

TrueMajority is announcing our national campaign "The Computer Ate My Vote" at a February 17 news conference during the annual convention of the National Association of Secretaries of State. TrueMajority members will then hold similar news events in our first ten target states during the week of February 23. As we win state by state, we'll be moving the campaign around the country until everyone is protected.


Ben Cohen
President, TrueMajority.org

PS: For more information about our campaign, check out www.truemajority.org/voting.cfm.
For more information about computer voting systems, check out www.verifiedvoting.org or www.calvoter.org/votingtechnology.html#resources.



Here is the letter we'll send to Secretary of State Matt Blunt:

Dear Secretary of State Matt Blunt:

Touch-screen voting systems may have some benefits, but I urge you to use whatever authority you have administratively, or influence you have legislatively, to ensure that election hardware and software are controlled by public servant election officials and that a voter-verified paper trail is in place before any Missouri election uses touch screens.

The secretaries of state for California, Washington and Nevada have already used their own authority to protect their citizens by requiring that computer voting systems in their states provide the voter-verified paper trail. I deserve the same protection.

Sincerely,
(We'll put your name and address here.)